Have you ever thought about getting into hydroponic indoor gardening as a hobby or money making scheme?

photo credit: Ryan Somma

Below is a list of advantages to hydroponic indoor gardening when compared to traditional soil based gardening:

1. Once you have made your initial set-up costs, hydroponic gardening is around 20% less expensive to run.

2. You can plant more hydroponic plants in a smaller area. This is because the roots do not need to grow as large as they have easier access to nutrients. This is despite your plants actually growing larger too!

3. Maintenance time is greatly reduced! There is of course no need to water hydroponic plants and weeding doesn’t exist either! All you’ll ever need to do is pick the plants once they are ready!

4. The yield is year round and permanent as you have full control over growing conditions and you will have made them optimum for whatever you are growing. This is great for when it’s off season as you can sell them for higher prices.

5. You can grow them anywhere; basement, living room, bedroom, corridor, attic, greenhouse, garage or rooftop.

6. Your hydroponic indoor gardening will result in a crop that is on average 40% larger. This is because you have created the ideal environment for them and they have constant access to nutrients.

7. As you will not be watering them, there is no danger of them being over or under watered. This is a common mistake with many novice gardeners.

8. For the reasons listed above, your plants will grow up to 50% faster. This is great if you have a large family to feed or you’re planning on selling them.

9. There is no need to have a garden for hydroponic indoor gardening. So if you live in the arctic or the desert you’re fine! More realistically, if you live in a high rise apartment block you can still do it!

Hydroponic Indoor Gardening is a fun and exciting hobby which you can realistically make a lot of money from! If you’re interested then you should learn more about Hydroponic Indoor Gardening!

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If you are like me, you may have started gardening by planting a small vegetable garden. A vegetable garden is nice as it provides a bounty of produce, but it can at times seem to look very dull. Then I discovered how to brighten it up with some color by planting perennials. It really is very easy to have a perennial garden.
photo credit: spierzchala

A friend advised me that a perennial garden would add beautiful color to my garden and I wouldn’t have to redo it every year like with other types of gardens. That sounded good to me so I gave it a try and loved the results.

You must have good drainage in your soil for perennial gardens to grow properly. They will not grow if the soil they are in stays saturated for long periods of time. A raised bed can alleviate this problem or you can dig a trench in the ground fill it with some crushed rock and then put a layer of soil back on top. To determine if you need to go to these measures, test your soil. Dig a hole in the ground where you want your garden to be and fill it with water. The next day fill it again and check it later in the day if the soil in the hole is still wet, you will need to improve the drainage in that area by using one of the two above methods.

Picking out the right perennials for your area can be tricky. The goal should be to have blooming flowers for as long as possible during the year. During your planning stage you can create an outline for the whole year. Research the different types of flowers that you like and when they bloom. If you plan it right, your yard can be a constantly changing array of colors and flowers.

You can order perennial seeds online but there is very little help that way. If you are new to perennial gardening I recommend buying your seeds from a local florist or nursery. You might be able to find a custom seed mixture designed for the growing conditions of your area. This takes the really tough research part out of the job. If one of these pre-made mixes isn’t available, you can ask the employees what they think would be a good mixture. They are usually very knowledgeable about what thrives in your climate, that?s their job.

With careful planning and some help from an expert either a book or local gardening expert, you can have beautiful blooms nearly year round in your garden. You can plant your seeds in groups and place different seeds in the group that have different growing cycles. That way there is always at least one plant in bloom in that section of the garden at all times. When one plant dies, another is just starting to bloom and so on.

When planting the seeds, you should space them out in small separate clumps according to the directions. Perennials tend to spread out and if you have too many too close together then they will end up trying to share the water and nutrients in the soil and will choke each other out. As you plant them, throw in a little bit of weak fertilizer to help the seeds get started. With a little bit of care in the beginning you should start to see flowers blooming up that will return year after year.

Technorati Tags: Backyard Flower Garden, environment, gardening, green living, landscaping, lawn, organic